Confessions of witches under torture, 1617

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MDCXVII.

Bdinburgb:
E. & G. GOLDSMID.

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1886.

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DEC 26 1912
LIBRA ARYL.

This edition ts limited to 120 copies. -

INTRODUCTION.
—o934o-— |

He belief in Magic and Witchcraft
was almost universal in the Middle
Ages, and “affected every class of Society,
and all sorts and conditions of men.” In
our own country, as evidenced by our
judicial records, the unreasoning credulity
which swept across the civilised world,
rose to high-water mark, assisted as it was
by the efforts of that wise fool of a King,
James the First of England and Sixth of
Scotland.

This is a translation from the Official
records of the Royal Court of Guernsey,
of the trial of three women for witch-
craft in 1617. It is taken from Mr.
J. L. Pitt’s Witchcraft and Devil-Lore in
the Channel Islands, Any one interested in
the subject should get a copy of this very
curious, interesting and really well edited
pamphlet.

E. G.

Confessions of Witches
undet Torture.

— 32

Before AMICE DE CaRTERET, Esq., Bailiff,
and the Jurats.
JULY 4th, 1617.
SENTENCE OF DEATH.

Collette du Mont, widow of Sean Becquet; Marie, her
daughter, wife of Pierre Massy; and Label Becquct,
wife of Sean Le Moygne, being by common rumour
and report for a long time past addicted to the
damnable art of Witchcraft, and the same being
thereupon seized and apprehended by the Officers of
His Majesty [James I.], after voluntarily submitting
themselves, both upon the general inquest of the
country, and after having been several times brought
up before the Court, heard, examined, and confronted,

6 CONFESSIONS OF WITCHES

upon a great number of depositions made and pro-
duced before the Court by the said Officers; from
which it is clear and evident that for many years past

the aforesaid women have practised the diabolical art.

of Witchcraft, by having not only cast their spells
upon inanimate objects, but also by having retained
in langour through strange diseases, many persons and
beasts ; and also cruelly hurt a great number of men,
women, and children, and caused the death of many
animals, as recorded in the informations thereupon
laid, it follows that they are clearly convicted and
proved to be Witches. In expiation of which crime
it has been ordered by the Court that the said women
shall be presently conducted, with halters about their
necks, to the usual place of punishment, and shall
there be fastened by the Executioner to a gallows,
and be hanged, strangled, killed, and burnt, until their
flesh and bones are reduced to ashes, and the ashes
shall be scattered ; and all their goods, chattels, and
estates, if any such exist, shall be forfeited to His
Majesty. In order to make them disclose their
accomplices, they shall be put to the question before
the Court, previous to being executed, f

Cc
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UNDER TORTURE. 7

Sentence of Death having been pronounced against ws
Collette Du Mont, widow of Sean Becquet; Marie,
her daughter, wife of Pierre Massy; and Isabel
Becquet, wife of Sean Le Moygne; the same

have confessed as follows :—

CONFESSION OF COLLETTE DU MONT.

First, the said Co//ette immediately after the said
sentence was pronounced, and before leaving the Court,
freely admitted that she was a Witch; at the same
time, not wishing to specify the crimes which she had
committed, she was taken, along with the others, to
the Torture Chamber, and the said question being
applied to her, she confessed that she was quite young
when the Devil, in the form of a cat :* appeared to her:
in the Parish of Torteval: as she was returning from
her cattle, it being still daylight, and that he took.
occasion to lead her astray by inciting her to avenge
herself on one of her neighbours, with whom she was
then at enmity, on account of some damage which

* As regards these colons, occurring where they are not
required, Mr Pitts observes that they correspond to similar.
pauses in the original records, and evidently indicate the suc-
cessive stages by which the story was wrung from the wretched
vicims. They are thus endowed with a sad and ghastly signi-
ficance, for 1t must be remembered that the confessions were not
made in a connected form, but were elicited by leading questions,
often accompanied by a fresh sp.l! of torture,

8 CONFESSIONS OF WITCHES

she had suffered through the cattle of the latter ; that
since then when she had a quarrel with anyone, he
appeared to her in the aforesaid form: and sometimes
in the form of a dog: inducing her to take vengeance
upon those who had angered her: persuading her to
cause the death of persons and cattle.

That the Devil having come to fetch her that she
might go to the Sabbath, called for her without any-
one perceiving it: and gave her a certain black
ointment with which (after having stripped herself),
she rubbed her back, belly and stomach: and then
having again put on her clothes, she went out of her
door, when she was immediately carried through the
air at a great speed: and she found herself in an
instant at the place of the Sabbath, which was
sometimes near the parochial burial-ground : and at
other times near the seashore in the neighbourhood
of Rocquaine Castle: where, upon arrival, she met
often fifteen or sixteen Wizards and Witches with the
Devils who were there in the form of dogs, cats, and
hares: which Wizards and Witches she was unable
to recognise, because they were all blackened and
disfigured : it was true, however, that she had heard
the Devil summon them by their names, and she
remembered among others those of Fallaise and
Hardie; confessed that on entering the Sabbath: the
Devil wishing to summon them commenced with her
sometimes. Admitted that her daughter Marie, wife
of Massy, now condemned for a similar crime, was a

UNDER TORTURE. 9

Witch: and that she took her twice to the Sabbath
with her: at the Sabbath, after having worshipped the
Devil, who used to stand up on his hind legs, they had
connection with him under the form of a dog; then
they danced back to back. And after having danced,
they drank wine (she did not know what colour it
was), which the Devil poured out of a jug into a
silver or pewter goblet; which wine did not seem to
her 80 good as that which was usually drunk ; they
also ate white bread which he presented to them—she
had never seen any salt at the Sabbath.

Confessed that the Devil had charged her to call, as
she passed, for Isabel le Moygne: when she came to the
Sabbath, which she had done several times. On leaving
the Sabbath the Devil incited her to commit various
evil deeds: and to that effect he gave her certain
black powders, which he ordered her to throw upon
such persons and cattle as she wished ; with this
powder she perpetrated several wicked acts which she
did not remember: among others she threw some
upon Mr Dolbell, parish minister : and was the occa-
sion of his death by these means. With this same
powder she bewitched the wife of ‘fean Maugues: but
denied that the woman’s death was caused by it: she
also touched on the side, and threw some of this
powder over the deceased wife of Mr Perchard, the
minister who succeeded the said Dc/be// in the parish,
she being enceinte at the time, and so caused the death
of her and her infant—she did not know that the

| fe) CONFESSIONS OF WITCHES

deceased woman had given her any cause for doing so.

Upon the refusal of the wife of Collas Tottevin to
give her some milk: she caused her cow to dry up,
by throwing upon it some of this powder : which cow
she afterwards cured again by making it eat some
bran, and some terrestrial herb that the Devil gave her.

CONFESSION OF MARIE BECQUET.

Marie, wife of Pierre Massy, after sentence of death
had been pronounced against her, having been put to
the question, confessed that she was a Witch; and that
at the persuasion of the Devil, who appeared to her
in the form of a dog: she gave herself to him: that
when she gave herself to him he took her by the hand
with his paw: that she used to anoint herself with
the same ointment as her mother used: and had been
to the Sabbath upon the bank near Rocquaine Castle
with her, where there was no one but the Devil and
her as it seemed: in the aforesaid form in which she
had seen him several times: She was also at the
Sabbath on one occasion among others in the road near
Ccllas Tottevin's; every time that she went to the
Sabbath, the Devil came to her, and it seemed as
though he transformed her into a female dcg; she
said that upon the shore, near the said Rocquaine: the
Devil, in the form of a dog, having had connection
with her, gave her bread and wine, which she ate and
drank,

UNDER TORTURE. It

The Devil gave her certain powders: which powders
he put into her hand, for her to throw upon those
whom he ordered her: she threw some of them by
his orders npon persons and cattle: notably upon the
child of Pierre Brehaut. Item, upon the wife of Jean
Bourgaize, while she was enceinte. Item, upon the
child of Leonard le Messurier.

CONFESSION OF ISABEL BECQUET.

Isabel, wife of Sfean le Moygne, having been put to
the question, at once confessed that she was a Witch :
and that upon her getting into a quarrel with the
woman Girarde, who was her sister-in-law: the
Devil, in the form of a hare, took occasion to tempt
her: appearing to her in broad daylight in a road
near her house: and persuading and inciting her to
give herself to him: and that he would help her to
avenge herself on the said Girarde, and everybody else :
to which persuasion she would not at the moment
condescend to yield: so he at once disappeared : but
very soon he came again to her in the same road,
and pursuing his previous argument : exhorted her in
the same terms as above: that done, he left her and
went away, after having previously given her a sackful
of parsnips; she then took a certain black powder
wrapped in a cloth in which he placed it; which

12 CONFESSIONS OF WITCHES

powder she kept by her. He appeared to her another
time under the same form in the town district, inciting
her anew to give herself to him, but she not wishing to
comply, he next made a request to her to give him some
living animal: whereupon she returned to her dwelling
and fetched a chicken which she carried to him to the
same place where she had left him, and he took it: and
after having thanked her he made an appointment for
her to be present the next morning before daylight at
the Sabbath, promising that he would send for her:
according to which promise, during the ensuing night,
the old woman Collette du Mont, came to fetch her, and
. gave her some black ointment, which she had had
from the Devil; with this (after having stripped herself)
she annointed her back and belly, then having dressed
herself again she went out of her house door: when
she was instantly caught up : and carried across hedges
and bushes to the bank on the sea shore, in the
neighbourhood of Rocquaine Castle, the usual place
where the Devil kept his Sabbath ; no sooner had she
arrived there than the Devil came to her in the form
of a dog, with two great horns sticking up: and with
one of his paws (which seemed to her like hands)
took her by the hand: and calling her by her name
told her that she was welcome: then immediately
the Devil made her kneel down: while he himself
stood up on his hind legs ; he then made her express
detestation of the Eternal in these words: I renounce
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ;

UNDER TORTURE. 13

and then caused her to worship and invoke himself in
these terms: Our Great Master, help us! with a special
compact to be faithful to him ; and when this was
done he had connection with her in the aforesaid form
of a dog, but a little larger: then she and the others
danced with him back to back: after having danced,
the Devil poured out of a jug some black wine, which
he presented to them in a wooden bowl, from which
she drank, but it did not seem to her so good as the
wine which is usually drunk : there was also bread—
but she did not eat any: confessed that she gave her-
self to him for a month; they returned from the
Sabbath in the same manner that they went there.
The second time she was at the Sabbath was after
the old woman Collette had been to fetch her, and she
anointed herself with the ointment as above stated ;—
declared, that on entering the Sabbath, she again had
connection with the Devil and danced with him; after
having danced, and upon his solicitation to prolong the
time, she gave herself to him, for three years ; at the
Sabbath the Devil used to summon the Wizards and
Witches in regular order (she remembered very well
having heard him call the old woman Collette the first,
in these terms: Madame the Old Woman Becquette):
then the woman Feallaise; and afterwards the woman
Hardie, Item, he also called Marie, wife of Massy,
and daughter of the said Collerte. Said that after them
she herself was called by the Devil: in these terms:
The Little Becquette: she also heard him call there

14 CONFESSIONS GF WITCHES

Collas Becquet, son of the said old woman (who
[Collas] held her by the hand in dancing, and
someone [a woman] whom she did not know, held
her by the other hand): there were about six others
there she did not know: the said old woman was
always nearest to the Devil : occasionally while some
were dancing, others were having connection with the
Devils in the form of dogs; they remaine| at the
Sabbath about three or four hours, not more.

While at the Sabbath the Devil marked her at the
upper part of the thigh: which mark having been
examined by the midwives, they reported that they
had stuck a small pin deeply into it, and that she had
not felt it, and that no blood had issued : she did not
know in what part the Devil had marked the others :
those who came first to the place of the Sabbath,
waited for the others; and all the Wizards and
Witches aopeared in their proper forms: but blackened
and disfizured so that they could not be recognised.

The Devil appeared sometimes in the form of a guat
at the Sabbath ; never saw him in other forms: on
their departure he made them kiss him behind, and
asked them when they would come again : he exhorted
them always to be true to him: and to do evil deeds,
and to this end he gave the.n certain black powders,
wrapped in a cloth, for them to throw upon those
whom they wished to bewitch: on leaving the
Sabbath, the Devil went away in one direction and
they in the other: after he had taken them all by the

UNDER TORTURE, 15

hand: At the instigation of the Devil she threw some
of the powder over several persons and cattle: notably
over ‘Yean Fehan, when he came to her house to look
for a pig. Item, over the child of James Gallienne,
and over others, Item, over the cattle of Brouart,
and of others.

It was the Devil that was seen at the said Gallienne’s
house in the form of a rat and a weazle, she herself
being then in the neighbourhood of Gallienne’s house,
and he [the Devil] came to her in the form of a man,
and struck her several blows on the face and head:
by which she was bruised and torn in the way that
she was seen the next day by Thomas Sohier, And she
believed that the cause of this maltreatment was
because she would not go with the Devil to the house
of the said Gallienne.

She never went to the Sabbath except when her
husband remained all night fishing at sea.

Whenever she wanted to bewitch anyone and her
powder happened to have been all used up, the Devil
appeared to her and told her to go to such a place,
which he named, for some more, and when she did
so, she never failed to find it there,

fINis.

Printed by E. & G. Goldsmid, Edinburgh.

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